Eight Intertwined

166 - Market

By the time morning came, Therion felt... Better.

He came into the feeling slowly, blinking to awareness as the numbness of sleep faded from the edges of his mind. For a long while, all Therion could do was stare up at the ceiling in silence. Alfyn was still asleep through some miracle, and the room was quiet save for the gentle swell and release of his breathing. Therion had halfway expected to launch to attention so he could get out of the inn room and away from anyone who could betray him as quickly as possible... But his body did not move as he had anticipated it would. His heart did not increase its race in his chest. He simply remained there staring upward like he thought the roof over his head would change the instant it averted its gaze. It did not, but Therion continued to watch it anyway.

Therion was not one to speak prematurely, and he didn't want to say something that would ultimately curse him to an unfortunate fate, but this was the best he had felt since Saintsbridge. After his close brush with Miguel, Therion had been a puppet dangling on cut strings, wondering where the next knife aimed for his throat was going to come from. And yet, after all the time he had spent with the travelers, no blade had flown for his neck. He was safe, and it was only thanks to the rest of the travelers that he was still alive at all.

As soon as Therion remembered the conversations he had shared with the other travelers the day before, he couldn't take his mind off them. H'aanit had been right when she said that if he truly wanted to leave, he would have done it already. The fact of the matter was that Therion wanted to stay. He was terrified of admitting it, but he wanted to spend as much time as he could with the rest of the group. They were a much better team than Darius ever had been. No, they were more than that now. They were his family, and Therion couldn't have walked away from them even if he tried. He belonged with them, and even though he had once thought himself to be incompatible with trust... Times had changed since then. He had changed too, and Therion knew it was a change for the better. This group of his was everything he had ever needed it to be, and he would never walk away from it.

Therion looked over at Alfyn once he finally convinced himself to look away from the ceiling. Alfyn had done so much for him. All of the travelers had given Therion a chance to make a new life for himself, and they had stood by him through thick and thin. He couldn't have possibly thanked them enough for it... But with Alfyn, it always seemed to run deeper. Alfyn was perhaps the kindest member of the group, and he was willing to take a chance on Therion even though the rest of the world would have gladly tossed him aside. What had started as an act of goodwill on Ophilia's behalf had turned into something truly beautiful, and Therion wouldn't have had it any other way. He hoped Alfyn felt the same way.

Therion sat up carefully, not wanting to wake Alfyn. The apothecary had become a much lighter sleeper since the incident with Miguel, always waiting for something to jump out of the shadows to try and ruin him again. Therion did his best to not disturb Alfyn, and through some mercy of the gods, he succeeded. As Therion got ready for the day, he kept sneaking in glances at Alfyn out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't say what he was searching for, but he found it, and at long last, Therion felt himself begin to relax.

The longer he stared at Alfyn, the more Therion felt something in his chest begin to pull with a tension he hadn't realize was there. Therion owed a lot to Alfyn. He owed the whole group for giving him a new opportunity to reach for a new future, but without Alfyn, Therion wouldn't have been there at all. Alfyn had killed Miguel to save his life. In all the time that had passed since then, they hadn't discussed it at all. Alfyn was too afraid to admit to his own emotions, terrified that they would sweep him under with their strength if he looked them in the eyes. Therion was in much the same boat, but in his case, he knew his paranoia would eat him alive if he drew too close to it. He hadn't ever wanted to trust people again after Darius, but there he was, placing his faith in someone he had never thought he would be able to love. The road had been long and hard, but Therion was glad he had made it this far. He wouldn't have asked for any other journey, and even though he had been too much of a coward to tell the rest of his friends that openly, he hoped they knew it.